at-home

[at-hohm]

noun

1. Also at home a reception of visitors at certain hours at one's home.

adjective

1. done or used in the home; intended for one's home.

   a new line of at-home computers; at-home assignments for free-lance workers.

at-home

noun

1. another name for open day

2. a social gathering in a person's home

Word History and Origins

Origin of at-home¹

First recorded in 1740–45

Idioms and Phrases

In one's own residence, town, or country. For example, Mary was not at home when I called , or Tourists in a foreign country often behave more rudely than they do at home . This idiom was first recorded in a ninth-century treatise.

Ready to receive a visitor, as in We are always at home to our neighbor's children . This usage gave rise to the noun at-home , meaning a reception to which guests are invited on a specific day at specific hours (also see open house ). [c. 1600]

Also, at home with . Comfortable and familiar, as in Mary always makes us feel at home , or I've never been at home with his style of management . [Early 1500s] Also see at ease , def. 1.

Also, at home with . Proficient, well-versed in, as in Young John is so much at home with numbers that he may well become a mathematician , or Chris is really at home in French . [Late 1700s]

In team sports, playing on one's own field or in one's own town. For example, The Red Sox always do better at home than they do at away games .

Example Sentences

He has crossed swords over Lululemon’s ill-fated acquisition of at-home fitness startup Mirror, which it purchased for $500 million in 2020, and stopped selling three years later.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Examples include women being invited for a mammogram to look for breast cancer or the at-home bowel cancer test that is posted to your home every two years over the age of 50.

Read more on BBC

There are now at-home flu testing kits that are widely available for sale for people who are showing signs of illness.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The healthcare conglomerate Abbott Laboratories said on Thursday it would buy Exact Sciences, makers of the at-home colon cancer test Cologuard, for roughly $21 billion.

Read more on Barron's

Abbott, one of the largest healthcare companies in the U.S., has a broad diagnostics portfolio, which includes at-home Covid-19 tests, complex screening tools used in laboratories, and smaller machines that can sit on a desk in a doctor’s office.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• banquet 
• barbecue 
• bash 
• feast 
• festivity 
• gala 
• luncheon 
• reception 
• shindig